Well, That’s Certainly 1 Way to Find Enlightenment
Frank, a new character on this week's The White Lotus, delivered a thematic monologue that made an incestuous make-out session look like child's play.
Photo: MAX EntertainmentTV
If The White Lotus has taught us anything, it’s that enlightenment can be achieved in many ways. For Daphne Sullivan, in season 2, it’s by cultivating a sense of unknowable mystery between yourself and your partner, aka leaving room for extramarital affairs. For Quinn Mossbacher, in season 1, it’s by bringing your bedding to the beach and ditching your screen addiction to join a group of native Hawaiian paddlers. And this season, for our brand new character, Frank, an old friend of Rick’s, spiritual enlightenment was achieved by a years-long marathon of lasciviousness; sex with thousands of women which evolved into a sexual and gender exploration with “ladyboys” and then men who looked like him while he dressed up in lingerie and hired Asian women to watch him get fucked. This then brought him to Buddhism and a desire to be sober and celibate. Definitely more exciting than the Calm app!
The old friends met up at a hotel in Bangkok so Frank could hand off a gun to Rick. And I was delighted by the batshit monologue Frank (played by Sam Rockwell, Leslie Bibb aka “Kate’s” IRL husband, by the way!) delivered over chamomile tea. It wasn’t totally clear the history of their relationship, but if I had to guess, it’d be something along the lines of “fellow party boys who got into some semi-to fully illegal shit together.” I also found myself relating to Rick for the first time, mouth agape in disbelief at what he was hearing. Yes, his old friend’s confessional touched on latent homosexuality and trans identity, but that actually wasn’t the core revelation he took from his sexual escapades. “Are we our forms? Am I a middle-aged white guy on the inside, too? Or inside can I be an Asian girl?” Frank wonders. “I don’t know,” Rick answers, bewildered and honest.